Wife of Romney’s VP pick used to lobby for Vermont Yankee

The Huffington Post is reporting that Janna Ryan, wife of newly minted Republican vice-presidential candidate Rep. Paul Ryan, used to work as a D.C. lobbyist for Vermont Yankee, among other corporate interests.

According to a story by Christina Wilkie, Janna Ryan, wife of the Wisconsin congressman, represented Vermont Yankee Corp., between 1998 and 2000. The lobbying firm for which she worked at the time was reportedly paid $180,000 by the plant’s owners.

Wilkie reports that Ryan’s efforts on behalf of the plant’s owners came as Vermont Yankee was being sold.

“Its owners hoped more favorable tax laws would make it more attractive to buyers,” Wilkie wrote.

TheVermont Public Interest Research Group has already jumped on the story, which also spotlight’s Janna Ryan’s work on behalf of cigar and pharmaceutical interests.

Paul Burns, executive director at VPIRG, had this to say in a release:

“I’m not sure that we should make any assumptions about what this means for the Romney/Ryan ticket, but it’s still fairly rare for any candidate on a presidential ticket to have ties to Vermont, so in this instance, Mrs. Ryan’s resume is worth noting. For what it’s worth, it’s certainly hard to imagine a client list more at odds with the values of Vermonters. After all, we’re talking about a state that’s leading the nation in health care reform, fighting to retire Vermont Yankee, working to end our addiction to oil and standing up to the tobacco industry.”

Check out the full HuffPo story here: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/08/14/janna-ryan-paul-ryan-wife_n_1774265.html